Utah students outshine nation on Advanced Placement tests

SALT LAKE CITY —Out of every four graduating seniors of Utah’s class of 2013 one passed an Advanced Placement exam, lifting the state nationally to a seventh place tie with New York for the percentage of students passing AP exams.

The new figures were released on Tuesday by the College Board.

Utah’s AP success rate has upgraded from 11th place in 2012 when 22 percent of graduating seniors got college credit through the AP exams. Then 20,638 Utah public school students took 33,217 AP exams.

The number of students appearing in AP exams also elevated to 8.4 percent.

“Obviously this is terrific news,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Martell Menlove said in a prepared statement. “But it’s also important to remember that Utah’s increasing AP success rate is only part of what our schools are doing to prepare students for college and careers.”

According to the Utah State Office of Education, the 2012-13 academic year also saw 1,132 students involved in International Baccalaureate programs, passing a combined 1,406 IB exams. In concurrent enrollment programs, another 27,444 students, earned roughly 190,000 hours of college credit.